I expect a Nadal vs Djoke final. The quicker Nishikori loses, the higher the chance Djoke can win the title, although Nadal has looked unbeatable this tournament.
2019 Australian Open: Men's QF Nishikori - Djokovic
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Nadalfan2013
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brokenshoelace
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brokenshoelace
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Luckily nobody thought that.
Vince Evert
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interesting to read McEnroe's spray of Kei Nishikori retirement-
John McEnroe blasts Kei Nishikori over Novak Djokovic QF retirement
John McEnroe has given a damning verdict on Kei Nishikori's injury retirement against Novak Djokovic, saying the Japanese star brought his exhaustion upon himself and was also a known quitter.
Nishikori - who has now retired from 18 ATP Tour matches including five times in Grand Slams - cut a listless figure as he dropped to 6-1 4-1 down against Djokovic, before exiting their Australian Open quarter-final with leg problems on Wednesday night.
Nishikori, the eighth seed, lasted just 52 minutes on court after racking up 14 hours on court in his previous four matches. McEnroe said Djokovic would have known early that his opponent was a lame duck.
"Novak knew that Nishikori has played three five-setters. The guy looked absolutely spent in the warm-up. That's when you know, you're going to have a big smile on your face," McEnroe said on Channel Nine's TODAY Show.
"It's sort of like the over/under - is he even going to finish the match? You could tell in the first game he was hurting bad.
"It's too bad, but it just shows you in an individual sport, if you have to waste that much energy ... and some of this was Kei's fault.
"He should have put away Karlovic in three sets, he could have won his first-round match against a qualifier more easily but he didn't, and it ended up catching up to him."
Nishikori went four-and-a-half sets with qualifier Kamil Majchrzak in Round 1 before the world No.176 retired, then took nearly four hours to beat big-serving veteran Ivo Karlovic in Round 2. He went five sets again in his controversial fourth-round clash against Pablo Carreno Busta, which took five hours and five minutes.
While it was an enormous workload, it resulted in Nishikori's 18th retirement at the elite level of men's tennis. McEnroe said that the Japanese star was known for being mentally weak, and that he had hired former Australian Open finalist Michael Chang as his coach to toughen him up.
"You should read into it that it's sort of like a middleweight playing heavyweights. At a certain point, he gives in mentally," McEnroe said.
"That's why he hired Chang. Michael wouldn't do that, and you could see Michael was dismayed in the coaches box; 'Why do you have to sort of stop playing?'
"That's not in his (Chang's) DNA, so he's trying to get that more into Kei's. But Kei ... some guys and girls have higher thresholds of pain than others and they can go out there and compete at a higher level for longer. But he's not one of them."
https://wwos.nine.com.au/tennis/aus...ts/fd56c1b3-397a-461c-ba1b-4c4cdbafcbe2#close
John McEnroe blasts Kei Nishikori over Novak Djokovic QF retirement
John McEnroe has given a damning verdict on Kei Nishikori's injury retirement against Novak Djokovic, saying the Japanese star brought his exhaustion upon himself and was also a known quitter.
Nishikori - who has now retired from 18 ATP Tour matches including five times in Grand Slams - cut a listless figure as he dropped to 6-1 4-1 down against Djokovic, before exiting their Australian Open quarter-final with leg problems on Wednesday night.
Nishikori, the eighth seed, lasted just 52 minutes on court after racking up 14 hours on court in his previous four matches. McEnroe said Djokovic would have known early that his opponent was a lame duck.
"Novak knew that Nishikori has played three five-setters. The guy looked absolutely spent in the warm-up. That's when you know, you're going to have a big smile on your face," McEnroe said on Channel Nine's TODAY Show.
"It's sort of like the over/under - is he even going to finish the match? You could tell in the first game he was hurting bad.
"It's too bad, but it just shows you in an individual sport, if you have to waste that much energy ... and some of this was Kei's fault.
"He should have put away Karlovic in three sets, he could have won his first-round match against a qualifier more easily but he didn't, and it ended up catching up to him."
Nishikori went four-and-a-half sets with qualifier Kamil Majchrzak in Round 1 before the world No.176 retired, then took nearly four hours to beat big-serving veteran Ivo Karlovic in Round 2. He went five sets again in his controversial fourth-round clash against Pablo Carreno Busta, which took five hours and five minutes.
While it was an enormous workload, it resulted in Nishikori's 18th retirement at the elite level of men's tennis. McEnroe said that the Japanese star was known for being mentally weak, and that he had hired former Australian Open finalist Michael Chang as his coach to toughen him up.
"You should read into it that it's sort of like a middleweight playing heavyweights. At a certain point, he gives in mentally," McEnroe said.
"That's why he hired Chang. Michael wouldn't do that, and you could see Michael was dismayed in the coaches box; 'Why do you have to sort of stop playing?'
"That's not in his (Chang's) DNA, so he's trying to get that more into Kei's. But Kei ... some guys and girls have higher thresholds of pain than others and they can go out there and compete at a higher level for longer. But he's not one of them."
https://wwos.nine.com.au/tennis/aus...ts/fd56c1b3-397a-461c-ba1b-4c4cdbafcbe2#close
Vince Evert
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"18 retirement" !!! Nishikori, who is supposed to be a bloody tennis professional, should not receive a payment re' his latest retirement.
Fiero425
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Even if true, it's not for McEnroe to scold Nishikori! Chang will do it enough; seeing his reaction to the WD the other night! Kei's not the only player who as fragile as glass! Plenty of these guys can't stay on court more than a couple months! "Shut up John!" 
:cuckoo:
:cuckoo:
Vince Evert
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i respectfully disagree. It's good to see and read McEnroe taking on a more sterner tone on a wide range of issues in the sport.Even if true, it's not for McEnroe to scold Nishikori! Chang will do it enough; seeing his reaction to the WD the other night! Kei's not the only player who as fragile as glass! Plenty of these guys can't stay on court more than a couple months! "Shut up John!"
tented
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He should stick to that, and not tell us about seeing Rafa naked in the bathroom.
Vince Evert
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He said What ?!!!! Sounds like Macca's pathetic attempt of being funny.
tented
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It was cringeworthy. This was after the SF. Prior to that, he tried to get Rafa to take off his shirt and show his abs after the Tiafoe match. Things are getting weird with McEnroe.
Vince Evert
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really ! I did not see the conclusion of the sf, left after Nadal won the second set and , with the extremely hot weather we had here in adelaide , 46.6 a national record, went to McDonalds for two Frappe's hence the avatar. Was Nadal embarrassed by Macca's weird questions?
tented
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He tried to make light of it, but it was extremely awkward.
atttomole
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I don't know why J Mac thinks that Nishikori can decide how much time he spends on the court. Obviously, Nishikori would like to spend the shortest time possible on court, but he can not legislate for the opponent. I guess his wish was for Nishikori to play a long match against Djokovic, so that the Serb would be cooked by the time he reaches the final, if he does reach the final.
tented
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Roger recently said something to the effect of “McEnroe spends a lot of time in front of a mic” — a somewhat sly way of saying McEnroe talks too much. I agree.
britbox
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